Bedtime Stories
by The Oracle
Summary: Just a short story taking place after the events of my fanfic Escape From Necross...Krystal shares a tale of Cerinian mythology with her young daughter. Read my other two Starfox fics before this one.


This is a little story, that I'm hoping will lay a little foundation for what will eventually become my next Starfox fanfic…Like I said before, be sure to read "Like a Vixen Scorned" and "Escape From Necross" first, so this one will make a little more sense.

I do not own the rights to either Fox McCloud, or Krystal, plus I use names from the series "Kamen Rider Kuuga" (but just the names for the most part). I do not intend to profit from this story.

Enjoy!.

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It was another quiet night on New Cerinia, in the section that Fox McCloud's family lived in, at least. The only illumination was the soft glow of the street lamps, the starry sky clear above everything.

Through this soft illumination, the form of a small child, a little girl fox, in bedclothes walked softly out of the bedroom, nervously clutching her favorite stuffed toy to herself as she walked down the hall, looking left and right through the hall as she tiptoed into her parents bedroom.

Little Rose McCloud, now 6 years of age, crept gently into the room, seeing her father asleep on his side, as she carefully walked to the other side of the bed, heading for her mother, who slept, leaning against her husband from behind.

The little scarlet-furred vixen leaned up, and hesitantly tapped her mother's back through her nightgown.

"Mommy…"

Krystal stirred a bit, starting to awaken, as Rose gave her another tap.

"Mommy…" She said again, quietly.

"Mmm?" Krystal murmured softly as she yawned and woke up, looking to the clock, and seeing it was still late at night, then eyeing her daughter drowsily.

"Rose…" She spoke gently, slightly annoyed, but not showing it. "What is it, dear?"

Rose backed off a little. "I had a scary dream…"

Krystal blinked a little as she sat up. "You did?"

The little girl nodded. "Yeah…all these monsters came after me." She hugged her stuffed toy to herself and swayed from side to side slightly.

That frightened look in her eyes made all of her mother's slight annoyance at being woken up melt away. "Ohhhhhh…you poor thing." She lamented, as she reached down and scooped her daughter up into her arms. Rose hugged her tightly and trembled with her head on her shoulder, as Krystal gently stroked her back some, and stood up, carrying her from the bed.

"It's ok…I know just the thing to help with this." She spoke, comforting her daughter as she began to walk out of the bedroom.

"Hmm?" Fox murmured, waking up as well. "What is it, hon? What's wrong?"

"It's ok Fox, she just had a bad dream…you go back to sleep." Krystal carried her frightened daughter off, as Fox nodded and settled back in.

"Mmph…I've got a big inspection tomorrow…I'M the one who should be having nightmares." He chuckled to himself, getting comfortable and going back to sleep.

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Krystal sat her daughter at the kitchen table, bringing her a glass of warm milk a few moments later.

"Here, drink this…" She spoke, comfortingly. "It should help calm you down."

"Would a cookie help too?" Rose asked innocently.

Krystal laughed a bit. "Nice try…but the last thing you need right now is sugar."

Rose nodded gently, and sipped out of the glass slowly, as her mother looked on. She remembered how badly she used to get spooked by nightmares when she was her age, and thus had loads of compassion for her child, even if she was giving her milk in the early morning hours, something she thought she'd never have to do anymore, since Rose was no longer an infant.

"So…tell Mommy about your dream, honey…" she said, breaking the silence after a while. "Sometimes it helps to talk about bad dreams."

Rose clammed up a bit, holding onto her glass, but then nodding gently as she sipped her milk. "Well…I was out playing in the yard, throwing the ball around, and I saw something behind the house, in the trees…I looked at it, and there was a monster back there. It jumped out for me, and there were others behind it…I tried to look for you and Daddy, but you weren't there, and they chased me through the house…then I saw another one in my room…"

"In your room too?" Krystal enquired.

Rose nodded. "This one was different…I think it was a she-monster…and she didn't try to hurt me."

"Oh no?" Her mother tilted her head in interest.

Her daughter shook her head. "No…she had nice eyes…she had wings too, I think…and when the other monsters found me and tried to hurt me, she fought them."

"Did she now?" She smiled a bit. "So you had a protector."

Rose nodded. "But then, one of the monsters got past her, and tried to grab me…. that was when I woke up."

Krystal nodded, and gently stroked her daughter's back, comforting her as she drank the warm milk, calming down slowly. Krystal was lost in thought, remembering something from the past, before looking back to her child.

"You know something Rose…I think I had the same dream when I was your age."

Rose blinked a bit. "You…you did, mommy?"

Krystal nodded as her daughter finished her milk, picking her up and carrying her back to the bedroom. "I think its time I told you a little bedtime story I know…"

"This late?" Rose giggled a little.

Krystal smiled. "Well, given the circumstances, I think it's ok to tell you one this late at night."

Rose smiled and nodded quickly, as Krystal set her down on the bed, and handed her favorite stuffed toy back to her, sitting on the bed with her daughter.

"Now…this is a story my mother, your grandmother, told me, back when I was a child, on my old home world…you remember me telling you about that place, right? Old Cerinia?"

"Uh-huh…" Rose nodded, listening intently.

Krystal continued. "Well, the creatures you described to me, remind of the ancient times on that planet…see, a long, long time ago on that planet, the people lived below the eyes of great beings, immortals who watched over us…there were two kinds of them."

"Two of them?" Rose tilted her head.

Krystal nodded. "Yes…and they had very different views on how treat our kind, the mortals…there were the wise and powerful Oorgi, who wanted to protect us, and teach us everything they knew about the world, the things we can see and hear, and the spiritual parts of it, because they thought we could one day become as great and powerful as they were…then there were those that I believe came at you in your dream…they were called the Grongi, and they believed that we were nothing more than sacks of meat, fit only for them to consume, like cattle."

Rose gripped her plushie a bit harder. "They only saw us as food?"

Krystal stroked her daughter's head. "Yes…and they were constantly trying to round us all up, and eat us, one by one…but the Oorgi wouldn't let that happen, and they knew that the only way they could truly make a future for us, was to eliminate the Grongi. They knew the Grongi couldn't be killed, since they were immortal, but they discovered they could seal them away."

"Seal them?" Rose tilted her head.

"Yes…" Krystal responded. "To trap their spirits…A terrible war broke out between them, one that shook the ground endlessly, made the waters roll violently, and made the mountains explode with great fury…but the Oorgi eventually won, destroying the physical forms of the Grongi, and trapping many of their souls inside of a great big slab of smooth rock they created." She held out her arms to emphasize how big it was.

"Wow…" Rose's eyes went wide. "So the thing that protected me in my dream…was she an Oorgi?"

Krystal nodded. "I believe she was…you see, after the Grongi were sealed, the Oorgi went on to teach us much of what they knew, and when we ready to go it alone, they all began to vanish, to move on to another existence somewhere beyond our sight…Except for one, a great Oorgi warrior named 'Kuuga'."

"Kuuga?" Rose giggled. "That's a funny name."

Krystal smiled. "Well, this was the ancient times, Rose…people had different names in those days." She continued. "Anyway, she examined the slab one last time, and discovered something…the seal was slowly weakening…it had been in place for 450 years, and she realized that in another 50 years, the Grongi would be able to break it."

Rose nodded. "So she stayed around to fight them?"

"Yes…" Krystal answered. "But she wanted the Grongi to think that all of the Oorgi were gone by the time they broke the seal, so she cast aside her physical form, and came to a young priestess in a vision, asking her if she could share her body, hide her spirit inside of it, until the time came to fight the Grongi, and then use the body of whoever she was inside of, to manifest herself…The priestess agreed, and for 50 years, Kuuga's spirit lay dormant and hidden inside of her…"

"And the priestess became Kuuga when the time came?" Rose asked.

Krystal shook her head. "No…by that time, the priestess had started a family of her own, and by the time the Grongi had broken the seal, Kuuga's spirit did awaken…but she was now inside the body of the oldest daughter of the priestess, who had inherited it somehow from her mother."

"Neat!" Rose smiled. "And then she defeated the Grongi again by herself, right?"

"You bet…" Krystal smiled and nodded. "And she succeeded in sealing them once more in the slab…the whole thing became a part of Cerinian tradition…every 500 years, Kuuga would once again awaken to combat the Grongi, and preserve the ways and life of our people."

"What about my dream, though?" Rose asked. "Does this mean the Grongi are coming back again."

Krystal sighed a bit and stroked her daughter's back. "I don't think so, love…remember, Old Cerinia doesn't exist anymore…I think that when the planet died, The Grongi either died with them somehow, or saw no point in staying on this plane of existence, and went off to join the ones that had escaped the sealing, in an eternal dark world, from which they can never return, just as the Oorgi can never return from wherever it is they went to."

She then lifted her child's head up from the chin. "I also want to share a secret with you, that my mother trusted me with…The priestess that Kuuga visited, and her daughter…they were our family's ancestors."

"Really?" Rose smiled a bit.

Krystal nodded. "And I think that's why Kuuga was there for you in your dream…so remember, if you ever find yourself in a scary situation like that in your dreams again, just remember Kuuga, and call out to her! Scream to her in your mind as best you can, and I guarantee that she'll come to protect you…okay?"

"Okay!" Rose nodded happily, as Krystal smiled and hugged her child.

"I love you so much…" She said to her daughter, earnestly.

"I love you too…" Rose cutely responded, as she let her mother tuck her back into bed, kissing her on the forehead, and turning out the lights, bidding her good night.

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Deep in the heavily wooded areas of New Cerinia, the same strange object that had landed on the planet some years back, had slowly sunk and burrowed itself into the caverns below the ground, the stone in the middle glowing gently, as the stone began to crack just a little.

The seal was growing weaker and weaker with each passing year…though it would still take another 11 years before the seal would completely break; it was weak enough that the trapped spirits inside could manipulate parts of the environment around the slab, thus the ability to slowly burrow into the earth.

The time was drawing ever nearer…


End file.
